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Thread: Old Time Radio

  1. #1
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    Old Time Radio

    I'm pretty sure that there was a thread started some time ago about this, but for the life of me, I can't find it.
    At any rate, I was just listening to a recording of "Fibber McGee and Molly" earlier and was wondering if there are any other OTR fans out in FAD land.
    They don't make them like that any more. I love the hiss and popping from the radio. <sigh>
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  2. #2
    emtdude Guest
    I love me some old time radio.....The Great Gildersleeve, Suspense, Johnny Dollar.....any thing from that era is da bomb!!!

  3. #3
    Forever-27 Guest
    Yea, The Shadow, The Green Hornet, Intersantum, The Whistler, Duffys Tavern, Gangbusters, Dragnet, lots of great shows

  4. #4
    Screwtape Guest
    Jack Benny, Gildersleeve, Fibber McGee, Burns and Allen are my favs.

    On a side note, as far as I can tell the only 'star' of OTR still alive is Shirley Mitchell, who played Leila Ransom on The Great Gildersleeve. Any others out there?

  5. #5
    SenorMuerto Guest
    Here's a great site pertaining to old time radio.

    http://www.richsamuels.com/

  6. #6
    FannyB1923 Guest
    Sunday Nights at 7 ET there's a show on WAMU-FM 88.5 called "The Big Broadcast"- you can hear it on the Internet!

    The host is Ed Walker. He always starts the show with my favorite- "the man with the action packed expense account" Johnny Dollar
    then some mysteries, or a seasonal show, or an old fav like Jack Benny

    but at 8 it's time for Gunsmoke! with William Conrad as Marshall Dillon, "It's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful....and a little lonely" I love it!

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by joplinfrk View Post
    I'm pretty sure that there was a thread started some time ago about this, but for the life of me, I can't find it.
    At any rate, I was just listening to a recording of "Fibber McGee and Molly" earlier and was wondering if there are any other OTR fans out in FAD land.
    They don't make them like that any more. I love the hiss and popping from the radio. <sigh>
    Wow, this brings back memories! When I was a kid in the 70's, we lived in Japan for awhile. No English or American TV programming, well before the days of cable and sattelite TV. We would tune in to the American Forces Far East Network and listen to radio programming at night when the old radio serials and comedies came on. Fibber McGee and Molly, The Shadow, The Whistler, Have Gun Will Travel, etc were our entertainment. I used to be a fan of the old CBS Radio Mystery Theater too.

  8. #8
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    Love OTR- especially Jack Benny.

    As I have mentioned in previous posts- I get a huge kick out of listening to the cigarette commercials- "4 out of 5 doctors smoke camels!".
    Performing my signature monkey hump move since 10/16/2007...

    RIP Dad- 11/14/1947 to 12/16/2013

  9. #9
    Danny62 Guest
    Old time Radio rocks!

    I have over 200 cassettes of OTR!

    I think "Suspense" is my favorite. Fred Allen is my favorite comedian! Fred wrote most of his own material for his shows.

    Called Theater of the mind what the kids of today are missing out on!

    Nothing like turning off the lights late at night and snuggling in for a good OTR show!

  10. #10
    Forever-27 Guest
    They used to run them on 560 AM KSFO here but they stopped. I dont know of any station here that still plays these.

  11. #11
    Danny62 Guest
    I know this company has a list of stations that play radio shows!

    http://www.radiospirits.com/onradio/...p?source=rsold

  12. #12
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    I had a collection of WWII era shows that included the commercials and the broadcast of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Damn, we were born in the wrong era, weren't we?
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  13. #13
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    I was listening to some tapes of some old variety shows. One was the W. C. Fields show and he kept talking about his son Chester. Being a fan I knew he did't have a son named Chester. Then at the end there was some info on the tape about the show. It' turns out that Fields sponser was Lucky Strikes Cigarettes and the Sponses owned the shows in those days. What they said was that there would be times when the sponsers were trying to edit Fields content and he'd get pissed. So when he was battling the sponsers he would start talking about his son Chester Fields. Of course Chesterfields was the name of a competing brand of cigarettes. The sponser would then back off and he'd settle down for a while. what was funny was after he tormented them and he got his way he would usually coonform to their demands. He just like making the sponser jump through hoops.
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  14. #14
    Morto Guest
    John that's great!Jop Im an old radio nut used to listen to EG Marshalls Mystery Theater in the 80s.Now I listen to Garrison Keillor on Sundays who makes me laugh my ass off.I have a number of old radio shows on tape.

  15. #15
    Dylgem22 Guest
    Oh wow !!! I grew up listening to OTR through my dad!! He used to have one of those really old radios, its about 4 feet tall, huge box, and all those tubes and bulbs in the back .. and he has collections of cassettes that he used to always listen to, and as kids, we would sit with him, not understanding any of it, but I always remember that .. he had Fibber McGee and he had some Burns and Allen tapes as well .. I don't have any other memories other than that though!!

  16. #16
    Cathy J. Guest
    Back in 1930 a local Washington DC station actually recorded their entire broadcast day. Everything from the local morning show hosted by some unknown as Arthur Godfrey LOL to the daytime soaps, newscasts, a Washington Senators baseball broadcast, game shows, dramas, comedies...all the commercials...EVERYTHING !!!

    I actually had this in my collection but the tapes got lost in my move but I am sure its avavailable online someplace. The station was then known as WJSV which later became WTOP.

    I don't recall ever hearing anything bad about those who did radio back then. But then again I am not surprised. The Hollywood "morals clause" which was in most of the contracts the movie stars signed back then has been talked about in the past, how strict they were. Well radio had one too and they were more actually more stricter than Hollywood's. I believe it was CBS who back in the 30's and 40's actually had a rule that stated that only those who were married were allowed on the air. Those who were single...they had to stay behind the scenes..EG: writers for example.

    Of course I have no idea if the "married" rule was strictly enforced, somewhat enforced, or not at all.

  17. #17
    Danny62 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by joplinfrk View Post
    I had a collection of WWII era shows that included the commercials and the broadcast of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Damn, we were born in the wrong era, weren't we?

    I have an 8 hour recording of CBS news during D-Day! Pretty cool shit! I try to imagnine would it would have been like to listen to that for the first time live thinking of the invasion happening...and yep we were born in the wrong damn era!!

  18. #18
    radiojane Guest
    My name give it away? I have two terabytes of otr shows. It's getting ridiculous.

    Someone posed the question of stars still alive.... Peg Lynch is still kicking around I think, she was on Ethel and Albert.

  19. #19
    kimba Guest
    I remember listening to a broadcast on local radio called Theatre of the mind...
    played all sorts of the suspense serials.
    Very cool...
    nothing like it today. Everything happened in your imagination, and it was probably scarier than if I had seen a visual!
    I seem to recall a really cool version of the Telltale Heart that was quite terrifying .

  20. #20
    lobosco107 Guest
    I have a huge collection of old time radio! Basically anything pre-1960 I love. (haha)

    Some of my favorite shows in my collection are:

    The Jack Benny Show
    Amos 'n' Andy
    Suspense
    Duffy's Tavern
    Kraft Music Hall (with Bing Crosby or Al Jolson)
    Your Hit Parade

    They don't make shows like that anymore!!!

  21. #21
    redkatrampant Guest
    Hubby collects the shows.

  22. #22
    Danny62 Guest
    I listen to most of mine at work, I still have a ton of OTR cassettes, and it gets harder to find portable cassette players!

    I sometimes will listen to them while I am on the computer as well! To bad most people can't appreciate OTR!

  23. #23
    radiojane Guest
    I started a few threads on some of the stars. Most are in the actor section Fibber and Molly, Harold Peary etc.

  24. #24
    Bidmor Guest
    Did anyone happen to catch any of WGN's (Chicago) Christmas Eve night "Yule Log" special? It was genius...all the video was a fireplace and mantle with a simulated fire, flanked by a Christmas tree and a 1940's style floor standing radio. The audio was of old Christmas radio programs. When I tuned into it, Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed were doing a 30 minute re-enactment of It's A Wonderful Life. Next was a 30 minute presentation of A Christmas Carol with Orson Welles narrating and Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge. Welles' Mercury Theater cast played the other parts. Next came a Christmas episode of Burns & Allen.

    Kudos to WGN in Chicago for a most excellent and nostalgic Christmas Eve program.

  25. #25
    Forever-27 Guest
    Yea niothing like listening to an old Superman radio show and hearing how great the new 1940 Chevrolet could be bought for only 650 dollars. " See the USA in your Chevrolet "

  26. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bidmor View Post
    Did anyone happen to catch any of WGN's (Chicago) Christmas Eve night "Yule Log" special? It was genius...all the video was a fireplace and mantle with a simulated fire, flanked by a Christmas tree and a 1940's style floor standing radio. The audio was of old Christmas radio programs. When I tuned into it, Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed were doing a 30 minute re-enactment of It's A Wonderful Life. Next was a 30 minute presentation of A Christmas Carol with Orson Welles narrating and Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge. Welles' Mercury Theater cast played the other parts. Next came a Christmas episode of Burns & Allen.

    Kudos to WGN in Chicago for a most excellent and nostalgic Christmas Eve program.

    I think we get that through our dish service- I'm going to have to remember that for next year.
    Performing my signature monkey hump move since 10/16/2007...

    RIP Dad- 11/14/1947 to 12/16/2013

  27. #27
    orionova Guest
    My fave OTR show is Orson Welles's "Tales from the Black Museum".

  28. #28
    Layla331 Guest
    I love listening to the oldtime radio channel on Sirius XM..the christmas ones were ssooooooooo good...

  29. #29
    orionova Guest
    The OTR station on XM isn't as good as it was before the merger.

  30. #30
    radiojane Guest
    Yeah I wasn't pleased with the xm channel the last time I heard it. Doesn't matter though... So many good sites with the shows to stream.

    Even a rusc membership is worth the money.

  31. #31
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    There's an old time radio show that plays here every Saturday. It's on right now. People started complaining alot about the sexuality of artists and song lyrics when Elvis came on the scene. Biggest historical ballyhoo about it anyway. And newer artists have been trying to outdo him ever since. Elvis singing many of these artists songs and putting his own mark of style on them being a big part of why that was, I think.

    However, these old songs from the 30's and 40's they play on this radio show far surpass new stars by a mile in the sexuality department. They were just slyer in their references. This isn't Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra type stuff. It's not mainstream stuff like that. Some of the lyrics make me laugh with how sly yet blatant the artists were with their references to sex. Give a listen to songs like, "My Handy Man" and such to see what I mean. Likely available on YouTube due to their resurgence in popularity. Some of you will know what I'm talking about and be familiar with the artists. Some not. If not, give them a whirl and compare with the folks who try to out-provocative eachother these days and tell me what you think.

    At least very few of these songs have been remade. They simply wouldn't work in this day and age. But once in awhile, if you're lucky, you'll run across someone in a blues or oldies club who does them up right.
    Last edited by SomeChick; 11-02-2013 at 06:30 PM.
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  32. #32
    Forever-27 Guest
    Am radio is weird, at night ill get stations from thousands of miles away. I was just listening to Our Miss Brooks and Innersantum on a station from Utah. It kept fading in and out all night. No stations here do reruns of old radio shows anymore. Sucks

  33. #33
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    I get those too sometimes. Love when I catch an old George and Gracie, The Shadow or Jack Benny radio show. The signal's very unpredictable though, so you can't count on hearing those at any given time.

    The main station I listen to on the weekends that plays old time radio is FM. Highly unusual these days.
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  34. #34
    knightstemplar22 Guest
    Love the old radio shows too!! Suspense, The Shadow and The Saint with Vincent Price. We listen to them on CDs in our car on long trips.

  35. #35
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    I am a bit surprised that "old time radio" hasn't been turned into at the very least a part-time format for the many of AM radio stations out there. Hey it would make sense considering that so many long time AM radio programming such as talk shows like Rush Limbaugh and Dave Ramsey, even ESPN sports are making the move to FM in a lot of places and such programming while fun to listen too is, well cheap since pretty much with the exception of the music disc jockies of the 60s onward ( example The 60s and 70s airchecks of WABC's Dan Ingram or WLS's Larry Lujack ) most old radio programming is in public domain. Besides chances are a small AM station could make more money and even attract more listeners by airing something say an old Amos & Andy or Jack Benny show than something that will get no listeners such as that small West Virginia AM'er that I had picked up a few years back that was airing FRENCH programming. The number of listeners who had actually listened to that station I bet you could count on one hand and still have several fingers left over.

  36. #36
    radiojane Guest
    We pick up a station out of Montana that plays it on weekends. Problem is - it's in the public domain and it's so accessible online. Most fans have huge (and free) collections, and can listen to what they want, when they want it. When I was in college I had a hard drive with about 15,000 shows on it, now I just stream to save space.

  37. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by radiojane View Post
    We pick up a station out of Montana that plays it on weekends. Problem is - it's in the public domain and it's so accessible online. Most fans have huge (and free) collections, and can listen to what they want, when they want it. When I was in college I had a hard drive with about 15,000 shows on it, now I just stream to save space.
    The interesting thing about old time radio and them being in public domain is that there are quite a few people who believe otherwise. I guess they figure if a show mentions "CBS" on the broadcast then CBS must still own it even if the show was from say 1944, of course that is not the case. On the flip side most of the same people believe those rock & roll and country airchecks from the past are in public domain but the reality is that they aren't. My cousin several years ago had uploaded an old radio show that I did back in 1993 on You Tube only to have it yanked by Clear Channel Communications because they claimed copyright even though I never did work for Clear Channel. Unfortunately the station where I did the show was bought out by Clear Channel many years after I had left and as a result they took over everything associated with the station including the ownership of airchecks that were done prior to them buying the station. Weird how all this of stuff happens.

  38. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by choff View Post
    I am a bit surprised that "old time radio" hasn't been turned into at the very least a part-time format for the many of AM radio stations out there. Hey it would make sense considering that so many long time AM radio programming such as talk shows like Rush Limbaugh and Dave Ramsey, even ESPN sports are making the move to FM in a lot of places and such programming while fun to listen too is, well cheap since pretty much with the exception of the music disc jockies of the 60s onward ( example The 60s and 70s airchecks of WABC's Dan Ingram or WLS's Larry Lujack ) most old radio programming is in public domain. Besides chances are a small AM station could make more money and even attract more listeners by airing something say an old Amos & Andy or Jack Benny show than something that will get no listeners such as that small West Virginia AM'er that I had picked up a few years back that was airing FRENCH programming. The number of listeners who had actually listened to that station I bet you could count on one hand and still have several fingers left over.
    The reason they've not done that is a few years ago isp's were lobbying for the broadband over powerlines movement. That would've given every electrical outlet in your home internet access. People decided they didn't like the idea of everything they plug in possibly being hacked. And ham radio uses many of those frequencies. So bbopl would've fucked up ham radio and the national emergency broadcast and weather alert systems as well as the above. Subsequently many AM frequencies contain dead air. Some of that caused by ham radio signals having rights over certain channels, the emergency broadcast system having eminent domain over others and isp's laying claim to some, hoping bbopl would pass. They occasionally revive this bill. Isp's claims will expire just like patents do. Eventually. But for now that's why AM radio is the way it is.

    I'd like to have more old time radio stations too. But in this town, I'm thrilled to get the one and occasionally two.
    Last edited by SomeChick; 11-06-2013 at 01:36 PM.
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